Celebrate Father’s Day and life, quit smoking

Celebrate Father’s Day and life, quit smoking

Fathers deserve a day to be celebrated. So this Father’s Day, celebrate the dads in your life and everything they do for your family.

June is Men’s Health Month, the perfect opportunity for dads to make some positive changes to improve their health.

Dads also deserve encouragement and support to be as healthy as they can be for themselves and their kids, and that includes being smoke-free. If your father is a smoker, help him quit for Father’s Day. Quitting smoking is the single best step he can take for his health. A dad who quits is also protecting his kids from secondhand-smoke exposure, which causes acute respiratory infections, ear problems, severe asthma attacks and SIDS [sudden infant death syndrome].

Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of disease and premature death in the United States, killing over 25,000 people every year in New York state alone!

The American Cancer Society estimates that 60 percent of cancers could be avoided if people stopped using tobacco.

Let the father in your life know how much you love him and how much you want him to be healthy. For a free personalized quit plan, call the New York State Smoker’s Quit Line, 1-866-NY-Quits, or visit www.nysmokefree.com.

Catherine Noakes

Albany

Rotterdam community pulls together after storms

On May 29 when the storm moved through Rotterdam, two trees were uprooted and fell on my daughter’s car in our driveway.

As the winds died down, our neighbors began arriving. They didn’t ask if we needed anything, they simply came. We had never met a number of these people. Some brought chain saws and ladders and began cutting away at the fallen trees. Others were hauling branches, putting up barriers to stop traffic from driving over downed electrical wires, or taking photos for our insurance carrier.

We want to thank everyone for being here, for bringing so much that is good to a bad situation. We are certain that similar scenes were taking place elsewhere in the area that evening. Rotterdam is indeed “a nice place to live.” Neighbors — you are the best!